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Christie: Newark to get control of its schools next week

Posted on September 6, 2017 at 5:51 PM

Gov. Chris Christie addressed educators and Newark public school students at NJIT on Wednesday, hinting that local control wasn't far off for the city's long-troubled but improving district. (Credit: Office of the Governor)

Gov. Chris Christie addressed educators and Newark public school students at NJIT on Wednesday, hinting that local control wasn't far off for the city's long-troubled but improving district. (Credit: Office of the Governor)

Speaking to educators at NJIT's campus on Wednesday afternoon, the governor disclosed that state Board of Education is expected to take its formal vote next Wednesday, ending 20 years of state control.

The governor ridiculed the 40,000-student district's past administration for producing what he called a "brutally unacceptable" 59 percent graduation rate in 2011, but said that reforms and stricter graduation requirements had reversed that slump.

"Graduation rates are now at 75 percent - a 16 point increase in six years," said Christie, touting what he called the "undeniable progress under our reforms."

In the 17 years before the reforms, Newark's graduation rate had increased by only six percentage points.

Last month, Christie's education commissioner, Kimberly Harrington, signaled that the Newark School Advisory Board would soon be given the power to hire and fire its own schools superintendent after a performance review showed substantive gains.

The performance metric, known as the Quality Single Accountability System (QSAC) measures a district's performance in instruction, personnel, finance, operations and governance.

In order to regain local control, Newark would have needed to earn above an 80 percent in its QSAC review in each area.

In May, the state reviewed Newark system's governance (which permits the school advisory board to hire a superintendent) and instruction. The district earned a 92 percent in instruction and a 100 percent in governance.

After next Wednesday's state board of education vote, Harrington will help Newark's advisory board to craft a transition plan by year's end, and present it to the local school board, allowing it to regain autonomy.